Guwahati, Aug 30: The Assam Legislative Assembly has passed a historic order by changing its rules to discard the age-old practice of adjourning sessions for 2 hours on Friday to offer Namaz, called ‘Jumma break’.

Taking to X, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “By doing away with the 2 hour Jumma break, @AssamAssembly has prioritised productivity and shed another vestige of colonial baggage. This practice was introduced by Muslim League’s Syed Saadulla in 1937. My gratitude to Hon’ble Speaker Shri @BiswajitDaimar5 dangoriya and our legislators for this historical decision.”

मुस्लिम लीग सरकार के 87 वर्ष पुराने नियम को आज असम विधानसभा के माननीय सदस्यों ने ख़ारिज किया। pic.twitter.com/JqhQwWD9sL

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 30, 2024

The Assam Legislative Assembly has passed a historic order by changing its rules to discard the age-old practice of adjourning sessions for 2 hours on Friday to offer Namaz, called ‘Jumma break’.

“Since the creation of the Assam Legislative Assembly, the sitting of the Assembly on Friday used to be adjourned at 11 am to facilitate Muslim members to go for namaaz. The Assembly used to resume its proceedings in the post-lunch session after the Muslim members had come back from the namaaz. On all other days, the House used to conduct its proceedings without any such adjournment for religious purposes,” said a press statement.

It further stated, “Shri Biswajit Daimary, Hon’ble Speaker took note of this matter and in view of the secular nature of the Constitution, proposed that the Assam Legislative Assembly must conduct its proceedings on Fridays like any other day without any adjournment to facilitate Muslim members to go for namaaz.”

“Accordingly, the proposal to do away with this rule in the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly was placed before the Rules Committee headed by the Hon’ble Speaker. The Rules Committee unanimously agreed to drop this rule. Accordingly, today, the House adopted a motion to amend this rule so as to provide for sitting of the House for conduct of its proceedings on Fridays like any other day. So, today history has been created by doing away with this colonial practice which was aimed at dividing the society on religious basis,” it stated.

Reacting on this development, AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam said, “This Friday namaz is very important for us… we have put this up in the rules committee but they did not listen; we even told them to reduce the break to one hour only.”

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar asked, “This had been a tradition and a trend that the house followed for decades. The decided to change it but was there a broader consultation? they have to explain why this decision was taken?”

Read: Question papers in APPSC exams leaked in exchange for bribes: CBI

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